One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when to plant balsam in Arab by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

Frost tolerance for balsam:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant balsam until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Arab is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant balsam and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your balsam may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your balsam indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Arab. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Arab is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Arab you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your balsam in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Arab

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Arab

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Arab.